Exploring metropolitan university pre-service teacher motivations and barriers to teaching in rural schools

Abstract

Staffing shortages has been a consistent problem for Australian rural schools. This paper addresses the rural staffing shortage by exploring the motivations and barriers faced by pre-service teachers in an Australian metropolitan university as they explore the prospect of teaching in a rural school. The paper examines two research ideas prevalent in the research literature. Firstly, that introducing pre-service teachers to rural placement experiences enhances their desire to seek teaching positions in rural schools. Secondly, that pre-service teachers from regional or rural backgrounds are more likely to seek teaching jobs in rural settings than their metropolitan counterparts. We draw on data from a longitudinal qualitative study with pre-service teachers in a metropolitan university that were interviewed before, during and after their rural placement. We found that while the second idea stands the test, the first idea, undertaking a rural placement, is not a guarantee to redressing the staffing shortage.

Responding to the Demands of the STEM Education Agenda: The Experiences of Primary and Secondary Teachers from Rural, Regional and Remote Australia

“…Participants in this research felt that because of the earlier inadequacies in many of their students' education, teachers were unable to achieve what McCarthy et al (2018) suggested is essential, that is to challenge or extend their learning. Interestingly, contrary to previous research (e.g., Cuervo & Acquaro, 2018;Sullivan, 2011;Watson et al, 2017), none of the participants made any suggestion that teachers in RRR schools held lower expectations of their students than they may have of urban-educated students.…”

“…Handal et al (2013) speak to the internal factors outlined by Kelly and Fogarty (2015), indicating that teachers who take up positions in RRR schools do so due to "a perceived sense of a stronger staff collegiality; because of the attraction of a rural ambiance and the desire to gain exposure/ experience in rural education, and to help rural and remote communities" (p. 13). Nevertheless, a recent longitudinal study of pre-service teachers conducted by Cuervo and Acquaro (2018) found that despite having a positive outlook toward teaching in an RRR context, all their participants (n=8) held deficit views about rural schooling. Such views included that schools are poorly resourced and staffed and that they make do with teachers teaching out-of-field.…”

“…There is much research documenting the issues faced by teachers in RRR schools and the challenges for recruiting teachers to teach in these locations (e.g., Cuervo & Acquaro, 2018;Lamb, Glover, & Walstab, 2014). In recent years the focus of policies has been on providing incentives to teachers to take on rural placements, including financial gain and/or cancellation of debt, and rewards through subsequent desirable placements (Reid et al, 2010).…”

Supporting EAL students in regional education contexts: “It creates a huge workload and often times disappointment”

“…Recently, there have been political discussions regarding regional migration schemes and an impetus for "bonding" new migrants to regional areas (Acharya, 2018;Baxendale, 2018;Crowe, 2018;Kainth, 2018). However, regional areas, in general, struggle to attract and retain teaching staff in comparison to metropolitan areas (Cuervo & Acquaro, 2018;Halsey, 2018: McKenzie, Weldon, Rowley, Murphy, & McMillan, 2014, and this makes finding teachers, among the limited pool, who have background knowledge and training in SLA and a multilingual view of learning problematic (Gándara et al, 2005; Hansen- Thomas et al, 2016;Walker et al, 2004). Additionally, Hansen- Thomas et al (2016) investigated the professional development needs of teachers who taught EAL students in regional areas in the USA, and found that regional schools often lack access to professional development opportunities due to a lack of financial and material sources.…”

Motivating preservice physics teachers to low-socioeconomic status schools

“…Meeting this challenge is essential for ensuring equal opportunities for low-SES students that respond to policy directives that call for "every student succeeds" [1]. However, teacher education graduates are generally unwilling to work in low-SES areas due to financial, geographic, living, and emotional concerns [2]. Moreover, teacher turnover rates in low-SES schools can be as high as 80% within the first three career years [3].…”